This is not the first time the Iraqi government has announced an
operation to retake Anbar — where several key towns, including the
provincial capital Ramadi, remain under IS control. In May, authorities
announced an operation to retake Ramadi, but there has not been any
major progress on the ground since then.

Dominic Evans (Reuters) explains, "The sprawling Sunni Muslim province extends
hundreds of kilometers west of Baghdad. Many of the towns and cities
that line the banks of the Euphrates, snaking down from the Syrian
border, are Islamic State strongholds.Islamic State's capture of Ramadi
two months ago marked the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government
since the militants swept through the north of the country last June and
declared a caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq straddling the border."

AP has also noted
that the announcement was made on Iraqi TV by Yahya Rasool who is the
spokesperson for the Joint Operations Command but that he failed to
"clarify whether the U.S.-led international
coalition is taking part, mentioning only government forces and allied
Shiite and Sunni paramilitary troops." Failed to clarify or failed to
credit?

We are hearing the province will be surrounded on three sides going
up to the border with Syria. They have announced operations like this
one in the past particularly in Ramadi when it was taken by ISIL forces
in mid-May. And that's a battle that's still ongoing. It is likely that this operation will concentrate on the second city
in Anbar province, Fallujah, and move further west. While this is going
on, we have also heard coalition airstrikes have hit an ISIL media and
radio station in Anbar province.

Iraqi officials have been candid that the brunt of the fighting about to
engulf the city will be borne by an umbrella group of Shiite militia
groups formed under the supervision of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps, the elite of Shiite Iran. That’s raised dire concerns from
American advisers that these sectarian groups – overtly hostile to both
Americans and Sunni Muslims – will break the already deeply frayed relationship between the Shiite government in Baghdad and the Sunni tribes that dominate the large swaths of Iraq currently under the Islamic State’s control.

The government claims that Sunni tribal fighters and local policemen
from Anbar will join the militia-led assault. But many remain skeptical
that Sunnis have joined in sufficient numbers to avoid the impression of
a Shiite pogrom against Sunnis in Fallujah.

At the US State Dept press briefing today, spokesperson John Kirby spun wildly.

QUESTION: Slightly Iran-related. In relation to Fallujah,
wondering if the United States detects any evidence of Iranian
involvement or direction of Shiite militia trying to take back Fallujah?MR KIRBY: I would point you to the Iraqi Government – this is
an Iraqi-led operation – to speak to the participation of these Popular
Mobilization Forces and certainly Tehran for the degree that they are or
are not facilitating. I do think it’s important to remember a couple of
things. This is an Iraqi-led operation, as it should be. And so we’re
going to let them speak to the progress of it. And then on the Popular
Mobilization Forces, and I mentioned this a week or so ago but I think
it bears repeating: About 80 percent of these Popular Mobilization
Forces, or Shia militia as they are otherwise known, are not at all
connected to Tehran or the Iranian regime. They’re Iraqi citizens proud
of their country and wanting to chip in and fight. And what we’ve said
from the very beginning is that all the forces arrayed on the ground
against ISIL in Iraq need to be under the command and control of the
Iraqi Government. And that’s what we’ve seen with the vast majority of
these Shia militiamen.

So I think it’s just important to keep a little context in here. When
we talk about Shia militia fighting here or fighting there, there’s
this automatic sort of connection drawn to Tehran, and that’s just not
the case mathematically.

The ongoing conflict in Iraq continues to exact a “terrible” and
deadly toll on the country’s civilians, particularly in the areas still
under control by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL), according to a new report released today by the United Nations.
The report – a joint effort compiled by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
– notes that the situation facing civilians in ISIL-controlled
territory remains dire with many of those perceived to be opposed to the
extremist group’s ideology being murdered, often in “grim public
spectacles.”
Members of ethnic and religious communities, for instance, continue to
be persecuted with as many as 3,500 members of the Yezidi community
remaining under ISIL captivity enduring physical and sexual violence.
Others, meanwhile, are apparently being persecuted based on their
perceived sexual orientation. On 8 March, the report says, ISIL beheaded
two individuals accused of homosexuality and a third for blasphemy in
the Bab al-Toob area of Mosul.[. . .]Although the report widely focuses on the crimes perpetrated by ISIL
extremists, it also documents violations committed by the Iraqi Security
Forces and affiliated forces, including indiscriminate airstrikes and
shelling as well as actions of reprisal against civilians.